By The Moonlight
by Anika
Summary: "Oh dear God," she whispered, "I've condemed him to his death."


By The Moonlight  
  
Author: Anika  
  
  
  
The night was dark and gohstly, Hilde noted, as she looked out the window of the room she was being held captive in. It had been three months since she had betrayed Oz, and she had been imprisoned at a high security base.  
  
The trees blew gently in the wind, the moon seemed to illumine the night sky in hues of yellow and white. The road to the city was visible from her window, and it whinded up and around the hills and valleys of the English moore.  
  
Sighing, Hilde left the portal and went to rest upon the small, rusty cot. Laying her head on the harsh material, she closed her eyes and thought of the boy who had gotten her into all of this trouble. Duo Maxwell, the pilot of a Gundam. And she had aided him in his escape.   
  
"What will happened to me now?" she quietly asked herself. She was sentenced to be executed in a fortnight; she knew that there was no hope for her. Tears escaped her tightly shut eyes as she thought upon this. Her life was to end, and there was nothing that could be done about it.  
  
Outside of the base, there came a horrible noise. Hilde sat up in her cot and leaned to see out the window. There had been an explosion in the East Wing, which was apparent by the fire and smoke eminating from the vicinity.  
  
The former opperative leaned back in her stiff cot, smiling to herself.  
  
"Stupid fools," she thought, "Can't even protect themselves from the enemy."  
  
Then, much to her suprise, there was a rapping on her window. Thinking is was shrapnel, Hilde went over to it to see if it had left a crack in the bullet-proof glass. Instead, she was met by the silohette of a very familiar figure.  
  
"Hey, babe, you in there?" the figure asked.  
  
"Duo, is that you?" she asked, frightendley.   
  
"The one and only!" came the cocky reply of the Gundam Pilot. He came into the dim light cast by the explosion, and she saw the young man with the long braid that she had been dreaming of for the past three months.  
  
"You have to get out of here!" she cried, suddenly aware of his position. "The guards will be able to see you here!"   
  
"I know," he answered her distressed plea. "I'm gonna bust you outa here, though. My mission was to get some information on the Mobile Dolls, but it was too heavily guarded. I'll have to try again tommorow."  
  
He put his hand against the smooth glass and leaned closer to it, so that she could see the seriousness in his face.  
  
"I will come back for you, Hilde. If not in the morning, then I will return under the cover of darkness, even if I have to to Hell and back to do it. Watch for me."  
  
Hilde put her hand on the glass as well, wishing she could touch him just for a moment.   
  
"I will," she whispered. He grinned, reading her lips, and leapt from the third story window without a second thought. Hilde kissed her hand and put it back to the window.  
  
"I'll wait for you, Duo."  
  
~*~*  
  
The next day, Hilde waited at the window, it not leaving her sight for a millisecond. He didn't come in the morning, or the afrenoon. But still she waited, trusting in the pilot to save her fro her fate.  
  
Then, as the sun was setting over the hills, the door to her cell burst open, and seven Oz soldiers strode in, smirking evilly.  
  
"What do you want with me?" she cried. But to no avail, the soldiers only laughed and tied her to the foot of her rickety cot. She struggled against them, but they cuffed her sharply and told her to 'keep good watch', for they had put her in sights of the window.  
  
Her eyes grew wide as she realized that this was a trap set for Duo. Somehow, they knew he was coming, and they intended on shooting him on sight.  
  
Hilde struggled to her knees so that she could see out the window. The soldiers laughed at her, called her the 'rebellion's whore'. Then, one of then, knelt down by her and whispered,  
  
"You know, you can save him. Just give yourself to me, and this will all be over."  
  
Hilde shot the man a cold glare, but didn't grace him with an answer.  
  
"Fine, bitch!" he yelled. He brought his hand up and slapped her. Hard. Then, he took her chin in his hand roughly, and kissed her disspassionatly.   
  
"Men, put a gun to her," he said, then left the room. The other soldiers laughed and put a gun beneath her breast.   
  
"There, now, sweety," they taunted, "You'll suffer the same fate as that Gundam Pilot if you so much as move."  
  
Hilde watched intently out the window, knowing that Duo would come for. "I'll come for you, even if I have to go to Hell and back to do it," he had said. "Watch for me."  
  
"Oh dear God," she whispered, "I've condemed him to his death."  
  
Out of the window, she saw movement on the road, a slim, black clad figure was stealthily approaching the base. Hilde glanced at the guards, but they hadn't noticed yet. They were talking amongst themselves, passing around a flask of what smelled like homemade moonshine.   
  
The figure was coming closer and closer to the compound, and Hilde knew she had to warn him. Somehow, she had to get him out of here. She began wriggling her hands, trying to free them from the tight binds they hand been put in, but to no avail. The knots held firm. She fought against them until they were damp with sweat and blood.   
  
SHe looked out the window desparalty. He was at the gate now. Her face shone like a light, and she had to extinguish it before he saw.   
  
"I have to stop him!"  
  
Then, the tip of her finger touched the cold metal of the gun.   
  
Glancing back at the guards, she knew that she didn't have much time. One of them had gone to the window, and was surveying the perimeter of the base.   
  
Hilde's eyes grew wide for a moment, and she drew a last deep breath. Then, her finger moved in the dark of her cell. The gun shattered the silence of the night, shattered her breast in the moonlight as she warned him with her death.  
  
The soldiers jumped up at the sound of the shot and ran to the window. They shattered the glass and began shooting at the black clad figure, who was making its way acrossed the compound.  
  
It turned to flee back into the shadows, not knowing that Hilde knelt by her narrow bed, bowed with her head over the gun, drenched in her own red blood.  
  
~*~*  
  
As Duo reached the cockpit of his Gundam, he breathed a sigh of releif. He was just happy that they hadn't got him.   
  
"I'll have to get the guys to help me get her out," he muttered.   
  
He turned towards the Gundam base, activating his stealth mode, and turned his scanner on to see what the Oz base had to say.  
  
"You're saying she shot herself?" a voice crackled over the device.  
  
"Yup. She must have done it to warn that Gundam PIlot we knew was coming."  
  
Duo's face turned an ashen shade of grey as he heard the offiers talking over their radios.   
  
"What was the prisoner's name?" the first voice asked.  
  
"It was Hilde Shbicker, the traitor from L2 colony."  
  
Duo could hear no more. He reached out and switched off the scanner.   
  
"It never fails," he whispered, rage building up inside of him, "The touch of Death has struck again."  
  
Like a madman, he leapt from his Gundam and ran full tilt back towards the Oz facility.   
  
"She didn't deserve this," his thoughts tormented him as he ran, tree branches and shrubbs stining his face and arms. "Why do I let myself becme close to anyone? They'll all die..."  
  
He reached the compound, and let out a war cry, from deep within his soul,  
  
"The God of Death is here to take you all to Hell!"  
  
He brought his gun around and began shooting, but it was to no avail. They had counted on his coming back, and where prepared. The thirty troops they had guarding the base fired, and Duo fell on the road to the city, his blood pooling around him, gun still in hand. He whispered,  
  
"They'll all die."  
  
Then, another shot rang out, and Duo lay still.  
  
~*~*  
  
"Grandpa, what happened next?" one of the small children that surrounded the old man asked immpatiently. "Did the Gundam Pilots come for revenge?"  
  
"That they did, my dear," the old man said quietly. "They destroyed the base, and every Oz soldier there. But..." he coninued, "People who still travel that road say that, when the moon is high in the dark night sky, and the road is a gypsy's ribbon over the darkened moore, they can hear the war cries of Duo Maxwell, even to this very day."  
  
The children shivered as the last statement sunk in, and they looked at him with big frightened eyes.  
  
"Really, Grandpa Heero?" another of the children asked.   
  
A strange look crossed the old man's face, and he shook it away.  
  
"Its just a story. Now, off to bed with you. All you you!" He shooed his grandchildren into their rooms, and rose to step outside.  
  
"Duo, my old freind," he whispered to the night, "You always were a maniac. I hope you found your peace."  
  
He turned to return inside, and, as always, heard the taunting laugh of the braided pilot echo in his memory. Heero allowed himself a small smile, and stepped indoors, out of the cold winter wind.  
  
  
Owarii  
  
  
  
  
Disclaimers: I couldn't put this at the begining, it would ruin the plot line! Anyways, I don't own Gundam Wing, or the poem which this fic is based on, "The Highwayman". If you've never read it, I recomend it. Loreena McKennit did a recording of the poem to music, which is amazing. I also recomend that, too. Okay, Author's rants done....now. 


End file.
